NZ204844A - Folding camp stove and container - Google Patents

Description

2^ o J] vU'"> a Q Priority Date(s): .. .CJ.\ ■?'.'? Complete Specification Filed: 7.'.?.? Class: .. /kt7.

Publication Date: .... 5 .Q. ,\5?7.... P.O. Journal, No: ..... /.. ^ ??• ??.

SUBSTITUTION Of flppi w jit UNEE8 SKi (Ofl 24 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION OUTDOOR STOVE a citizen of the United States of America, residing at 15880 Glen Una Drive, Los Gatos, California 95030, United States of America, do hereby declare the invention for which I pray that a Patent be granted to me and the method by which it is performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement. 204344 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Various types of stoves have been proposed for use in the outdoors and many have provided means for folding some of the elements relative to each other to form a package that would be relatively easy to transport. One of these stoves is disclosed in my US; patent specification No. 4489706 and in my New^ealand patent specification No. . 205455. In each of these specifications there' is disclosed a firebox that has the configuration of a frustum of a pyramid and has a grill disposed across its open upper end. This has proven to be a very effective cooking unit, however, it has a limited amount of cooking surface and , the use of that surface is restricted to whatever kind of cooking or heating that can be done over a grill. j The stove comprises an imperforate base and a housing disposed on said base, said housing including opposing pairs of side panels, end panels and top panels; each side panel of each pair of side panels being pivoted to the other side panel thereof and to one of said end panels, and each of said top panels being pivotally connected to one of said end panels, whereby said housing can be moved to a collapsed condition with one pair of pivotally-connected side panels pivoted into face-to-face contact with the. other pair of pivotally connected side panels, each end plate being pivoted into face-to-face contact with one of said side panels, and each of said top panels pivoted into face-to-face contact with the end panel to which it is pivotally attached.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a diagrammatic perspective of the stove ' of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic section taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1 Figure 3 is a top plan view of the housing member jp ' 'll£ the stove in a partially folded condition. a 2^ f 204844 Figures 4 and 5 are schematic showings of different ways the stove may be used for cooking purposes.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 5 The stove of the present invention comprises a base which also acts as a container, and a housing 12 that is adapted to enclose a fire on the base and support cooking utensils and items being cooked. The base includes two sections 13 and 14 each of which is rectangular in plan 10 and has a central panel portion 15 (Fig. 2) enclosed by four wall members 16-19 that project at about a 90° angle from the edges of the panel portion. The panel 15 is a one-piece generally planar member formed in four triangular sections that slope slightly upwardly toward a 15 central peak 15a. Each of the wall"members~i6, 17 and 18 has an out-turned flange 16a, 17a and 18a, respectively, at its free edge, while each of the two adjacent walls 19 has a plurality of spaced short tubular sections formed on its outer edge. The tubular sections of one wall 19 20 interdigitate with the sections of the other wall 19 to form a continuous tubular socket that receives an elongate pin 20 and provides a piano hinge 21 between the two sections of the base. It will be noted in Fig. 1 that the end of each of the wall members 16-18 terminates short 25 of the end of an adjacent wall member so that a notch 22 is formed between the wall members. A pair of spring latches 24 is secured to the face of base section 14, each latch having a flange 24a welded to the panel, a rigid strap 24b extending up alongside the adjacent wall 30 member 16 or 18, an inclined section 24c, and a flat ledge 2 04844 24d. Ledge 24d is spaced above the flange 16a or 18a of the adjacent wall member a distance that is greater than the thickness of the flanges 16a and 18a of base section 13- Accordingly, when the section 13 is swung about 5 hinge 21 down toward section 14, the flanges 16a and 18a engage the inclined sections 24c of the latches, and force the resilient latches to swing outward and permit the flanges 16a and 18a of section 13 to move into abutting contact with the flanges 16a and 18a of section 14. The 10 resilient latches then swing back to position the ledges 24d of the latch over the flanges to lock the sections 13 and 14 together to form a container.

The housing 12 is made up of eight panels 30-37 each of which is a generally planar member hinged to an 15 adjacent panel. The six panels 30-35 are trapezoidal in configuration while the panels 36 and 37 are square in configuration. Panels 30 and 33 are identical in size and configuration, and panels 31 and 34 are identical in size and configuration. End panels 32 and 35 are of the same 20 size and have the same trapezoidal configuration. As seen in Fig. 3, panel 32 has a right-angle flange 32a extending along one edge, and panel 35 has a right-angle flange 35a extending along its edge. Panel 32 has an opening 44 covered by a charging door 45 that is pivotally mounted 25 on the panel by a hinge 46. The door,45, in turn, has a circular opening over which a circular damper 48 is positioned by means of a shaft 49 that is secured to the damper and is pivotally mounted on the door. When the shaft 49 is pivoted by actuation of a handle 49a, the 30 damper may be pivoted from a position generally parallel -JS"- 3 4 4 to the face of the door and closely overlying and substantially closing the opening in the door to a position at a desired angle to the plane of the door.

Panel 36 comprises a rigid, expanded metal grid 36a 5 that has a thin sheet metal edging 36b folded over three of its side edges, and a piano hinge 52 is connected to the fourth side edge to pivotally mount plate 36 on end plate 35. In the operative position shown in Fig. 1, the plate 36 rests on the upper edges of the panels 30 10 and 34 and extends about half way across the opening at the top of the housing.

The plate 37 is a solid plate of generally square configuration that has a raised rib 37a extending entirely around the upper surface of the plate close to its 15 periphery. Along one edge the plate is connected to end plate 32 by a hinge 53.

Panel 30 is connected to panel 31, and panel 34 is connected to panel 33 by typical piano hinges 55 and 56 respectively. Similarly, the hinge 54 that connects 20 panels 31 and 32 and hinge 57 that connects panels 35 and 34 are piano-type hinges. The hinge 60, that connects panels 30 and 35, is also a typical piano hinge but, instead of being secured to the edges of the body portions of both panels, hinge 60 is secured between the edge of 25 the right angle flange 35a and the edge of the body portion of panel 30. As seen in Fig. 3, this arrangement provides a space between panels 35 and 30 into which the panels 34 and 33 and hinge 56 can be folded. Similarly hinge 61, that connects panels 32 and 33, is connected 30 between the continuous flange 32a of panel 32 and the 204844 edge of the body portion of panel 33 to form a space into which panels 30 and 31 and hinge 55 may be folded.

The position of Fig. 3 is a partially folded position. It will be understood that, in the fully folded position, 5 the panels are disposed in close, flat, abutting relation and that in this completely folded condition, the entire housing can be enclosed in the container that is provided when the sections 13 and 14 are swung into latched engagement.

In Figures 4 and 5 are shown some of the several ways in which the stove can be used. In this discussion, panel 36 will be referred to as a grill and panel 37 will be referred to as a griddle. The chamber under the grill 36 is identified by reference letter A, and the chamber 15 below the griddle 37 is identified by reference letter B. If a fire is built on base 10 directly below grill 36, chamber "A becomes a firebox and chamber B becomes an oven. Heated gases rise directly upwardly to cook meat or the like disposed on grill 36. These rising gases also 20 contact the inner side walls of panels 30, 35 and 34 that enclose the firebox A to heat these walls. Chamber B beccmes heated, chiefly by radiation, and becomes an oven. Accordingly, while items are being heated on the grill 36, biscuits and the like can be baked in oven B, and other 25 items such as food in cans can be heated in the oven.

Also, the griddle 37 becomes heated and heat will be transmitted to items placed on the griddle, such as a pot of water. At the same time slices of bread, that are supported on the ledge provided by the upstanding wall 30 members 16, 17 and 18 of the base and lean against thj ^ A A O 4- M walls of the housing, can be toasted.

If a fire is made under griddle 37, as shown in Fig. 5, chamber A becomes an oven and chamber B becomes a firebox. Hot gases move upwardly to heat the griddle.

Also, gases flow into the oven A to bake or heat items in the oven. As the gases pass out through grill 36, they heat items disposed on the grill. Again, bread can be toasted by positioning slices on the ledges formed by wall members 16, 17 and 18. It will be noted in Fig. 10 5 that, when a fire is made under griddle 37, it is protected from rain and wind.

While a stove having slanted side walls is disclosed it should be understood that the stove could have straight, upright side walls. Also, while the grill and the griddle 15 of Fig. 1 are the same size and cover half the opening at the upper end of the housing, they may be made in different proportions, for example, the grill could cover two-thirds of the opening while the griddle covers one-third.

It will be evident that the stove provides a versatile unit which can be utilized in different ways depending upon the type of cooking that is desired. While certain items to be grilled may require the relatively intense heat obtained when the fire is built in chamber A, other items 25 may be adequately heated on the grill when they are subjected to the less intensive heat of a fire in chamber B. Similarly, best grilling results are obtained when chamber B is a firebox — but some items placed on the grill can be adequately heated by the heat generated in 30 chamber B by a fire in chamber A. Accordingly, the stove 1 -X- 20484 not only provides two cooking surfaces, but also means for cooking in different ways such as either grilling or griddling and, with either arrangement, an oven is provided. 9 204844

Claims (11)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A stove comprising an imperforate base and a housing disposed on said base, said housing including opposing pairs of side panels, end panels and top panels; each side panel of each pair of side panels being pivoted to the other side panel thereof and to one of said end panels, and each of said top panels being pivotally connected to one of said end panels, whereby said housing Ccfn be moved to a collapsed condition with one pair of pivotally-connected side panels pivoted into face-to-face contact with the other pair of pivotally connected side panels, each end plate being pivoted into face-to-face contact with one of said side panels, and each of said top panels pivoted into face-to-face contact with the end panel to which it is pivotally attached.

2. The stove of claim 1 wherein said base includes two plates pivotally connected together for movement into spaced substantially parallel relation, each plate having a flange projecting outwardly from its laterally extending side margins, whereby the flange on one base plate can be disposed in substantially planar face-to-face alignment with the flange on the other base plate when said plates are moved to spaced parallel relation to define a compartment enclosed by said side margins and flanges and said plates, said compartment being adapted to receive and enclose said housing in collapsed condition.

3. A stove as claimed in claim 2 including retaining means for interengaging said plates of said base when said plates are moved into 204344 10 spaced substantially parallel relation to define the compartment for retaining said plates of said base in the spaced substantially parallel relation.

4. A stove as claimed in claim 3 wherein said retaining means is a yieldable latch which can yield in response to said plates of said base being moved into said spaced substantially parallel relation with the flange of one plate of said base abutti'ng the flange of the other plate of said base, said yieldable latch returning toward an initial position under its yieldable action to engage the abutting flanges of said plates of said base and retain said plates of said base in the spaced substantially parallel relation.

5. The stove of claim 1 further comprising an opening in one of said end walls, and an access door pivoted on said one end wall from a position covering said opening to a position spaced from said opening.

6. The stove of claim 5 further comprising an air-inlet opening in said access door, and a closure member pivotally mounted on said door and movable to a position substantially closing said air-inlet opening.

7. The stove as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the housing has an elongate opening at its upper end, a grill positioned over a portion of said opening, and a griddle positioned over another portion of the opening, said housing comprising an enclosed firebox underlying said elongate opening. 204344 u

8. The stove of claim 7 wherein said elongate opening is approximately twice as long as it is wide, and wherein said grill and said griddle are each substantially square in configuration and cover approximately half of said opening.

9. The stove of claim 8 wherein said housing is frusto-pyramidal in configuration. I

10. The stove as claimed in any one of claims 2-6 wherein the housing has each of the plates of the base selectively useable at times as a panel for heating food and at other times as a panel for burning fuel.

11. A stove substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. PVpomiD Vy hie/their authorised Agents A. J. PARK & SON, v .. ,